Departures
by Aizaki
Summary: Sometimes what you think you want isn't really what you want at all... Rin's an uninspired artist, living in a past that's destroying her own life and reputation. She's use to being alone, and seems to prefer it that way, but one day, when her past comes back to face her head-on, she's left to question everything she's worked for...


A/N: So guys, this is actually a re-write of one of my older stories which was also called 'Departures', in case you didn't realize, I had deleted the story entirely since it was just written so...ugh...

Anyway, I like this better, and I actually feel like I can possibly finish this- also, this is one of the longest intros I've done in a LONG time for a to-be chaptered story, so that should say something to you all right there... Anywho, hope you guys enjoy this rewrite, and if you do, please leave a review and/or a fave/follow, it's always appreciated! Thanks!

-Depatures-

He's right behind her.

Not directly, and probably not close, but she can feel him, hear him; she can smell his light cologne through the foggy, damp air. Then suddenly she's at the ocean, watching the sunrise- or is it the sunset? She never can seem to tell.

His arm is around her shoulder, pulling her body closer to him with his misty blue eyes focused out on the horizon- out over the dark water- and she can feel the uncomfortableness that comes only when salt water and sand are drying on the pores of your skin and scratching you as you move.

But there's something else...

Before she can even register what she's doing, she's pulled away and stood up, shivering as his heat is leaving her- _it's that dream again..._

Her mouth is moving slowly and she can hear the words- foreign and strange on her tongue- supposedly coming from her mouth. "I know what you're doing, and I can't keep going on like this."

His face says everything he won't- everything he _can't_.

And still her subconscious plows right on, "I can't stay with you forever, I have college-"

He opens his mouth to say something as he gets to his feet,

"Yes, I applied and was accepted- despite what you told me." She's screaming at her body to turn and run, because she knows exactly what he's going to manage to say next- knows exactly how far this'll put her behind for months to come.

"Well then I guess this is it, huh? You, throwing me away for your work..."

She's trying to cover her ears, to hunker down into a fetal position as the wind begins to whip off the ocean, tearing her loosely tied dark colored sarong he'd brought her from a trip from her waist and throwing it to the air.

_"Goodbye."_

She's jolts awake, sitting straight up in her bed and breathing hard- her throat hurts, and she's fairly sure she'd been screaming again. Slowly, she runs a hand through her blonde, sweat matted hair and lets out a deep, slow breath.

You would think after having the same dream on and off for eight years, she'd be more adept to dealing with its aftermath.

Her blue eyes scan the dark enclosed room before looking to her clock on her bedside table and reaching to flick on her lamp. As she's reaching over various glasses and trinkets, the phone from her kitchen rings through the silence, surprising her enough to- when she pulls back her hand- knock one of her old, metal frames off onto the trodden down carpet.

Cursing under her breath, she shoves her large, grey and white comforter off her hot legs and forces her body up off the bed; just as she's about to lean down and pick up the frame, she pauses, straightens herself and hurries out of the room.

The frame was always meant to be down anyway...

As she practically stumbles into the darkened kitchen, she grabs the phone off the receiver and speaks into it, now starting to desperately rub the sleep and awful out of her eyes and mind.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Rin, I was just wondering where you are...it's already five and we were kinda supposed to open the studio up an hour ago to get ready...and, uh, you have the key so.."

She quickly raised her head to look at the clock on her microwave, her eyes widening as she saw the green LED lights flash '5:16' at her. She turns on her heel and runs back into her room to frantically begin her search through her laundry pile and drawers "Oh my god, I'm sorry, it just...ugh, long night. I'm heading out right now- I'll be there in a minute, okay?"

"You know we-"

"Yes, yes, I know, I'm heading out the door now, so I'll talk to you when I get there, okay, bye." The frantic blonde ends the call and tosses the phone onto her bed before exchanging her slouchy, torn up pants for jeans and her old tee-shirt for another one that at least smells somewhat cleaner. As she hurries towards the door, she's raking her fingers through her hair, discarding the strands that separate from her head onto the floor while she tries to pull it up into a high, out of her face ponytail while sliding her feet into a pair of ballet flats with their soles coming off.

She runs back to the kitchen, grabs her phone and collection of mismatched, out of order keys and races out the door, hoping she can catch the train before rush hour officially hits...

XxXxXxX

When she finally arrives, Rin finds her co-worker tapping her foot and pacing back and fourth on the sidewalk with two now empty cups of coffee in her hands, it's already six by the time they run up the three flights of stairs in the building and unlock the cold studio's door.

"We have, like, five minutes before she gets here and chops us, you know that right?" The younger girl snaps, blowing her brunette bangs out of her eyes and fiddling with her black scarf as she steps quickly to her station by the window and Rin flicks on the overhead lights.

"Hey, not my fault, Minako." Unceremoniously, the blonde drops her body into her chair at the far end of the studio, closest to the brick wall and her back facing away from everyone else.

"Did you have-" She questions as she flips on her desk lamp and begins to pull out her laptop and various cameras from her multitude of bags she always seems to have nearby.

"Yeah."

There's silence after that, and when Rin glances up, she can see the girl pursing her lips- trying to think of something to say, she seems almost relieved as the blonde quickly says, "Nothing to worry about though, I'm used to it by now." The lie is sour like a lemon in her mouth and she can feel her nose crinkling in disgust- thankfully the other doesn't notice.

"Good...now do you have those outfits ready to go, I have to set up the backgrounds sometime before they get here.."

"Mhm, I'll just mail them over once I finish this one, alright?" This time she has to cough and clear her throat to rid her mouth of the bitter taste.

It's only another minute before their employer walks in and begins barking orders, throwing her faux blonde hair about as she whips her head to stare them both down from behind her large, Ray-Ban sunglasses. "Now girls, even if this is just for a wedding, I want this entire thing to be perfect, understand? These people are paying for both of your wages this week, and if they aren't happy with what you two do..." Her shrill voice implies everything they don't want to hear about and she smiles at the sullen faces they both seem to be wearing, "Good girls, now we have an hour, get cracking."

"Yes ma'am."

Being in a business like this really wasn't great when you simply couldn't find inspiration...

So, instead, she vouched to send a group of old designs she hadn't seen in a while and, with Minako quickly typing away on her Mac while trying to adjust and clean her lenses, the uninspired blonde drew out her pencil and a small piece of parchment paper to try and draw something...

Anything was better than nothing, wasn't it?

As soon as the lead hits the paper, she tries so desperately to think of what to draw, to think of what she wants to see arise on the surface. She throws the paper into the wastebasket after just a minute and rips out another sheet, only to angrily tap at its surface with her pencil's eraser.

Minutes turn into hours, and by now there was a good collection of paper spilling over the wastebasket and around the blonde's torn up, dingy flats. Clicking her tongue in annoyance, she drops her pencil onto the desk and leans back, sighing in frustration just as she hears a buzz and crackle from the phone on her desk accompanied by the lobby woman's voice.

"You're eight o'clock appointments here, is it alright if they come up?"

One of her delicate fingers goes to hold down the reply button as she tries to force the irritation out of her voice, "Of course, the door's open." Then with a flick of the same finger, she cuts off the call and leans back in the stiff chair yet again, listening to the clicking of heels running up the steps- probably the bride and her friends.

Out of the corner of her eye, she watches as they trample in over top of each other and Minako manages to corral them to one of the photo rooms, dragging her cameras and laptop with her of course. But then she notices one has stayed back and turns to her, beginning to open her mouth and encourage the probably shy bridesmaid to go on and file in after her group.

Her voice catches in her throat and she lets out some sort of stammering, choking noise just as the male's turning towards her and raising an eyebrow at her sounds.

_He still smells like the ocean..._

"L-Len..?"

He looks taken aback at first and then, ever so slowly, a smile pulls at his lips and he rakes a hand through his still scraggily mess of blonde hair, "So I guess goodbyes really are temporary, aren't they?"

**To be continued...**


End file.
